


at eighteen

by yinsprings



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 18 plot twist, Chenle turning 18, Cross-stitch, Jisung pestering Chenle's life cluelessly, M/M, Reminiscing, Rubix Cube, chenle - Freeform, chenle in music school, chenle is loved by everyone, chenle reaching legal age, chensung - Freeform, except jisung, grade school chenji, jisung - Freeform, jisung jeno jaemin gym buddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22436257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yinsprings/pseuds/yinsprings
Summary: Jisung became part of Chenle's life again. But, one-sidedly.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Kudos: 27





	at eighteen

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this not realizing that 20 or 19 (intl age) is the legal age in South Korea. Anyway, this is a work of fiction.

_Are you experiencing these right now? You might be the next--_

Chenle closes the probably twentieth advertisement he had encountered over the past hour. He just wants to access the new game that's been introduced three days ago. But it doesn't have an application version of it yet so he was stuck opening it on his PC. He's been trying for an hour already yet all he got was bugs and thousands of ads. 

He tried accessing the link again but another ad popped out and redirected to a new window. 

_I only have a year till I turn 18 years old. And I am scared._

_Because wonders—world unexplained wonders—break out when you reach the legal age._

_What if I was actually a hero? That has superb superpowers to save humanity... A half-blood? That fights evil creatures... A wizard? To stop the newborn Voldemort... Or worst, a half-human half-demon?! That will spread the demonic plague to mankind... No. Or a half-snake..._

_When the clock struck midnight, I will slowly feel my skin transforming. My nails getting longer, my nonexistent fangs protruding, my skin---_

Chenle immediately closed the window. He cannot read it longer. Why are people so weird, he thinks. If they want to scare themselves, then leave others alone? He sees his reflection on the computer screen with his eyebrows knitted together.

He decided to just shut the computer. Too bad, no new game luck for him.

***

"What do you want for your birthday?" Renjun asks him out of the blue. 

"Nothing," replied Chenle as he continues eating his malatang.

"Just say it!" 

"I don't need anything but since you insist. I want a new phone. Can you buy it?" Chenle turns to face Renjun and smiles slyly at him. 

Renjun rolls his eyes and gave him an annoyed look. "But seriously, tomorrow is your birthday. You'll be legal! Aren't you excited?" 

"As I have observed, there's nothing different about it. You and Mark hyung just got older." 

"But I am excited. I can be arrested already!" 

Renjun smacks him and Chenle's laugh booms the entire restaurant, making the customers glance towards their table.

***

Chenle enters the theater and Xinxin, his classmate, hands a letter to him. The words written at the back of the letter were in Korean and translates to _For our music star Chenle._

"Thank you for remembering Xinxin!" He exclaims as he smiles widely at her.

"Lele, happy 18th!" Greeted Felix at his side while giving him a gift. 

Chenle's eyes sparkled at the sight of it. "Wow. Can't wait to open this. Thanks bro!" And they first bumped. 

The birthday greetings and presents from his classmates and teachers continued as he walked down the aisle of the theater. It is his birthday and also the first stage rehearsal for the play "El Romance del Dragon". 

And so far, his day is great. His mother woke him up with a birthday cake and she made lots of food too, including the longevity noodles Chenle ate for breakfast. Renjun texted him at midnight saying "Happy birthday. BE good" His phone has been constantly ringing from all the text messages, calls and social media notifications he's been getting, all just to greet him a happy birthday. _Yes, he is that loved by many._

Most importantly, he didn't transform into a filthy ass creature or whatever that article feared of. Plus he was deep at sleep already when the clock struck twelve so he didn't feel any weird things growing or breaking out from him. 

Thinking about it, he was kind of relieved. Not totally relieved because the day is not over yet. But we'll see. 

***

1122 messages  
2001 notifications 

His social folder is rocked. All of those came from his social media accounts. So he started opening it one by one. 

First, Weibo. 

The almighty Wang JunKai tagged him on a post. Junkai was his childhood friend. Back when he was still in China, they would often cross paths at broadcasting stations when Chenle went for auditions until they became friends. Qian Zhenghao posted a screenshot picture of their conversation on MusicSpace wherein they were complimenting each other. His past classmates and teachers left comments on his birthday post on Weibo too. His relatives in China posted baby photos of him with captions reminiscing the baby Chenle and wishing him great things now that he's an adult.

Chenle's heart warms by the thought that even though he doesn't see all these people like before, they didn't lose touch and even remembered his birthday. He diligently liked and replied to all of their birthday posts. 

Second, Twitter.

Most tweets and direct messages are from his seniors in music school. He retweeted, liked, and replied to all of the tweets from his Kun-ge, Xiaojun-ge, Taeil-hyung, Doyoung-hyung, and Jaehyun-hyung. 

Third and last one, Instagram. 

The first post on his feed was from @itsdonghyuckAKAfullsun. A photo of Haechan pinching his cheeks, with the caption: "Chenle-ya, you're still my baby. Eat lots! Happy b-day."

Chenle can't help but laugh and comment: "Thank you Haechan-hyung. Want me to buy you a computer?" 

Renjun left him a message also on Instagram saying he got him a present and that he should get it at his dorm. The rest of the messages were from his classmates at his school.

Chenle stretches and takes a deep breath. "I'm finally done." The same moment he remembers he still has text messages to reply to. 

He was about to exit the app when a certain story caught his attention. 

**js25**

Oh, Jisung. 

He is in the gym. With two guys at the back. It is a mirror selfie posted 2 minutes ago. Captioned "Andy Park back at the gym" and mentioned @jaemjaemin @jenojaem 

Jisung? Wow, it's been a long time.

And he goes to the gym now. That's a huge transformation. Chenle remembers he used to be so skinny back at their grade school days. He's gotten so buff now. 

"Good for him."

***

Chenle fetched Renjun at his dorm along his way to their school. He acquired the present Renjun gave to him and it was a music sheet notebook. Chenle was so thankful because he just noticed he's left with a page only and he indeed needs a new one right now. And that's what Renjun got for him. Truly the best hyung ever. 

It's their second day of rehearsals and Chenle is busy writing music notes on his new notebook. Meanwhile, Renjun beside him is studying for his Chemistry exams later. 

He was focused on writing the notes neatly when they heard a loud thud at the theater room. It was his Haechan who barged in and ran as fast as he can to Chenle. He was out of breath but he was also saying Chenle between his breaths.

Chenle laughed at him. "Hyung! Breath in, breath out." But Haechan just shrugged him off. 

"Yah! Chenle! Chenle!" Haechan called him in a small voice like he has an exclusive. 

He is usually like this when he has gossips to tell Chenle. 

Renjun heard him and was curious too so he moved closer to them to listen but Haechan pulled Chenle away towards the grand piano. 

"Hmph!" Renjun frowns and glares at Haechan but Haechan sticks his tongue out to Renjun to annoy him even more. 

"Chenle, as I was saying," Haechan rests his hands on Chenle's shoulders with a serious face. 

"You didn't tell me anything yet. What's with the hurry though?" 

"You know Andy?" 

"Who the hell is Andy?" Chenle answered with a confused face.

"Andy Park!" Haechan snaps a finger at him.

Andy Park? Oh, wait. Did he mean Jisung? 

"Jisung? But isn't he Peter Park?" 

"No, Chenle. He's Andy Park. He's not Spiderman." 

Chenle laughs "Oh~ I love the sense!" and continues, "He told me his English name was Peter in grade school."

"I don't care about that Chenle. He's still Jisung anyway." 

Chenle nodded in agreement and proceeded to ask him his no.1 question. "What about him though?" 

"That kid goes to the gym now! And he's gotten so buff and tall! I saw him when I went to Mark's school." 

"Oh yes. I saw his Instagram stories and indeed he was." 

"Weren't you close back then? He even gave you flowers on Valentine's Day in sixth grade." Now, Haechan is eyeing him weirdly and is wriggling his eyebrows. 

"Not really. We don't talk now though." Chenle just wants to dismiss the topic asap! He doesn't like where this is going. 

"That kid is good looking, right?" 

Chenle looks at Haechan and Haechan smiles at him. "Uh.. huh," was all Chenle managed to say as he puffs a deep breath. 

"Okay, bye!" Haechan suddenly blurts out and leaves with a big grin on his face.

What the hell.

***

Chenle always tells the truth. Haechan asked him so he just told the truth. Nothing's wrong with that. He doesn't like Jisung. Even when they were in grade school, he didn't like him at all. Plus he was hella annoying. 

_Fifth grade._

_Chenle's classmates are busy playing with the Rubix cube and he wants to try playing it too. He knows he wasn't good at it, but he wants to touch it too._

_"Here, Chenle." It was his turn to play with it and first, he examined the cube and just turned it carelessly without the intention of really solving even one color. But he didn't know Jisung was actually looking at him._

_Nevertheless, he continued moving and messing up the colors._

_"Ah! Chenle doesn't know how to solve it!" Jisung jeers at Chenle. He felt the shame creep out so he immediately stopped and gave the rubix cube to the owner._

_Jisung continued to make fun of him so he glared at Jisung. So hard. Until he stopped._

_Chenle felt so bad after that, he didn't look at his side even once. They were seatmates at that time._

_Jisung might have felt the tension going on between them and realized his wrong since he apologized._

_"Hey, Chenle." He calls Chenle's attention._

_Chenle looks at him, still angry._

_"I'm sorry about earlier." He said and looked down and glanced back at him._

_Chenle with his piercing eyes looked at him and replied, "Whatever. And please, I know how to solve it Jisung Park. Tsk."_

_Chenle knew he was being defensive but he needed to save himself at that embarrassing moment._

"Hah! Park Jisung! If we compete right now, you won't beat me even in your wildest dreams!" 

Chenle scoffs out of nowhere in his bedroom. 

"My best record was 5 seconds!" He talks in a loud voice to the Jisung in his mind while giving him the smuggest look. 

"Chenle, time for dinner!" 

Chenle heads out of his room and goes to the dining room. His mom ushered him to the seat next to him and helped him to put food on his plate. While doing that, she suddenly brought up a topic. 

"You know, Jisung's dad?" 

Jisung, again?! 

"I met him earlier at the grocery store and he talked about so many things. His dad was really talkative. Just like before. " 

Chenle is beyond confused now. "Yes, mom. But why are you telling me this?" 

"He said Jisung will be going to America to continue his studies. He'll live with his relatives there." 

"Oh, I see. But why are you telling me this?" Chenle is so confused right now that he's starting to chuckle in amusement. 

"Where was he studying again?" His mom ignored him. 

"At Seoul Academy," Chenle answered while looking at his mom intently. 

"Hmmm. Nice school. Not bad. I heard he will be pursuing a medical course in another country. " 

That guy? Really? Chenle can't help but laugh at the back of his mind. Good luck to him! 

"Go eat." His mom dismisses him before he could ask her his question again. 

Mom, why are you telling me this? 

***

Days passed and it felt like Jisung became part of his life again. But, one-sidedly. 

***

"Chenle, I'm here!" 

"A-yi*! How are you?!" Chenle received his aunt at the doorstep as he takes one of her luggage. 

(*Aunt in Chinese) 

"No, how are you? Are you doing well here?" Asks his aunt with a concerned tone.

"Of course, mom's here so I'm doing very very well!" He replied enthusiastically. 

"Oh, and the old man misses you a lot. You should call him." 

Upon that mention of his grandfather, it's as if he took a memory pill and memories came rushing back to him. 

Strangely, it's about the cross-stitch he made in sixth grade. It was a requirement for one of their subjects. His grandfather liked it and brought it back to China. 

"A-yi, remember the cross stitch I did when I was younger? Is it still in Grandpa's house?" 

"Yes! It's hanged in the living room. It was framed. Why?" 

"Just recalled it, A-yi."

It didn't really matter previously. Why is he recalling now? Why is he becoming so sentimental these days? Most of all, why does it have to do with Jisung once again?! 

_Sixth grade._

_Chenle observes Jisung as he does his cross-stitch. Chenle is amused. The back of his cross-stitch is so clean. Not even a single tangled thread. His design is simpler than Chenle's but it can't be denied that it was done exquisitely. Surprisingly, Jisung excels at this._

_While they're doing their work, they were also watching television. Oggy and the cockroaches._

_Chenle glances at the TV then back at his cross-stitch and then sometimes at Jisung. His work is actually nice too. Although it's not as clean as Jisung's, who cares, people usually just look at the design. People care for the results only._

_"You're almost done?!" Chenle exclaimed at Jisung._

_Jisung covered his ears in response. "Yes, this is a piece of cake." Jisung looks at his work and says, "You're almost done too."_

_"I still have a long way to go!" Chenle cries dramatically._

_"Want me to do it?" Jisung offers at him._

_"Really? Okay then!" Jisung returned his cross-stitch in his bag and gets Chenle's._

_He studied the pattern and continued stitching where Chenle had left._

_"Why are you so good at this?" Chenle leaned closely to Jisung while asking._

_"I don't know. I'm just good at it." Replied Jisung while giggling straight on his face, his small eyes forming into crescents._

_Chenle's gaze would settle on the television and back at Jisung in a while. He beamed brightly._

_Chenle checked the back part of his cross-stitch and he can immediately spot the area Jisung stitched. It was so neat. He touched it with his fingers and grinned._

_"Park Jisung..."_

***

"Why do you look so preoccupied? Did something happened?" Renjun nudged Chenle to get his attention.

"No, I was just thinking...." Chenle slowly answers, deep in thought. 

"You are so not yourself today. You're scaring me Lele!"

"You know Jisung?" Chenle stops abruptly on his track. 

"The guy you liked in grade school? Yeah, I often see him on the field playing soccer with Jeno." 

Chenle's ears rang the moment he heard Renjun"s reply and retorted back fumingly. "Excuse me, I didn't like him back then!" 

"Whoa. Whoa! Calm down. I get it. You didn't like him then. But I thought you guys had mutual feelings for each other. He gave you flowers on Valentine's Day. And you were pretty ecstatic about it."

"You cared so much for the flowers, you were even so angry when a schoolmate touched it," Renjun continued. 

The memories of that day are still vivid in Chenle's head.

_Sixth grade. Valentine's Day._

_Jisung liked a girl classmates of ours. And he wanted to give her a valentine's gift. But that girl has strict parents, she can't bring home gifts as she'll be questioned where those stuff came from._

_So Jisung made a plan. Chenle helped him. They became accomplices. The plan was he will give valentine gifts to some of his classmates, him and the girl included. He gave the girl he likes a small heart pillow with a letter, the others were keychains and his was flowers and a big heart cookie._

_"Chenle let's eat this!" His classmates pointed the cookie._

_"Uh..." Chenle was hesitant because he wanted to save it for later._

_"Sure, just leave some for me okay?"_

_It's for everybody, Jisung just gave it through him._

_When Chenle came back to their classroom, only a little piece was left. Chenle got a little furious at that time._

_"Oh sorry, Chenle. Peace! It was so tasty, we couldn't get enough of it." His classmates appeasing him._

_It's just a cookie, Chenle._

_Sure, it's just a cookie from Jisung._

_"Where's your cookie?" He didn't even notice Jisung went to his side._

_"They finished it already," Chenle answered in a straight tone._

_"That was for you though." Jisung pouts. "How do you like the flowers?"_

_The words Jisung said suddenly lit up Chenle's mood. It was meant for me. "I like it very much! Thanks." Chenle giggles._

_Jisung was relieved to hear that. "That's nice to near... Do you think she likes it?" Jisung's voice somehow trailed when he asked the latter._

_"Oh, ha ha ha. Of course, she'd love that. It was given by you." Welp, his mood kinda lowered a bit after that._

_"By the way, big thanks to you Chenle." Jisung smiled at him and pats his shoulder._

_When Chenle returned to their room, he saw Lucas carrying the flowers. His flowers. He can't explain what he felt that time, his blood just boiled. He hurriedly went to his seat and told Lucas in the nicest possible way, "Hey Lucas, that's mine." And tried to make his smile reach his eyes. It must look so horrible as Lucas' expression got sour._

_When he came back home, he bragged to his mother that someone gave him a cookie and flowers._

***

Jisung has been on Chenle's mind lately that he can't help but stalk him on Instagram. Usually, it's just stories of him on the gym or skins and rank level he acquired on a game. 

There's one thing though that Chenle hasn't checked yet. Their past messages. 

Chenle clicked it and their last message was three years ago. 

He scrolled up till the very first message. 

He doesn't really check his message requests so he didn't know Jisung messaged him first and he was able to accept the request and reply to him after a month. 

may 8  
**js25**  
^.^ 

You accepted the message request.

june 8  
**lelegendary**  
May 8 and it's already June 8 lmao sorry 

**js25**  
Huh? 

june 13  
**js25**  
Chenle where are you studying now?

**lelegendary**  
Korea Music Academy  
You didn't know?

**js25**  
Ahhhh. Hahahaha. No

**lelegendary**  
Do you know where Haechan-hyung and Renjun-hyung are studying right now? 

**js25**  
KMA?

 **lelegendary**  
You're not sure? 

**js25**  
Ohhhhhhh. Hahahaha. Im sorry

And the interesting part was at this moment. 

**js25**  
Heyyyyyy. I have to tell you somethingggggg  
Pssssttttt!!! 

**lelegendary**  
Okay. What is it 

**js25**  
You promise you won't tell it to others?

**lelegendary**  
Hurry up!!!

**js25**  
You know what, Niannian only misinterpreted what I texted  
She thought I wanted to court her  
Then she suddenly just said yes  
And I was so shocked so I just went on

**lelegendary**  
What the hell Jisung! 

Jisung got a girlfriend in sixth grade and worst, it was the best friend of the girl she liked. 

**js25**  
That's why we broke up after a few days  
I know I committed a big mistake  
Don't tell anyone please. My conscience has been bugging me 

**lelegendary**  
Lmao what did you tell her?  
And why was your topic all about that

**js25**  
Eeehh she started it ><  
I just said, so it is okay to court right now and  
she replied we're dating ><

**lelegendary**  
Lmao hahahaha that's fucked up  
Poor you  
Poor Niannian 

**js25**  
And she bombarded me with messages  
I can't reason out! 

**lelegendary**  
I was so shocked btw when I heard you  
were together because you liked someone else 

**js25**  
I didn't like her though. Seriously. Those were just excuses 

**lelegendary**  
Whuuuut?

**js25**  
Why would I like her she's so overdramatic 

**lelegendary**  
You're so meannnn 

**js25**  
And I already had someone

**lelegendary**  
Huh? What do you mean...

**js25**  
I said I already had someone that time

**lelegendary**  
Oh

**js25**  
Yep  
I need to go

And that was our last message. I didn't get it. What he meant. 

Even now, Chenle still doesn't have an idea.

_Three years and we haven't had any contact since. Our schools might be just near each other but we haven't really met or even just run to each other. Our last meeting was at our graduation. It's so ridiculous._

Is this the eighteen plot twist?

_Sure, I didn't transform into some ugly beast nor would I have superpowers ever. Instead, a person who I thought I have forgotten completely entered and messed up my life beyond my control._

_While I go crazy having Jisung episodes here, he's there freely living his life without having to think about a certain Chenle that only exists in his past. He won't even have the slightest clue of what I'm going through at present._

However, there's one thing that comforts Chenle right now amidst the chaos he's feeling inside and that is, 

Jisung hasn't turned 18 yet.

_Jisung, what do you think your 18 plot twist might be?_

Chenle smirks.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
